Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are feuding over the portion of North Carolina’s unprecedented anti-LGBT law regulating public bathroom access for transgender people. Journalists covering the spat should know that the “bathroom predator” concept Cruz referenced is an anti-LGBT myth.

Last month, following a special session convened by North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature, Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law a bill (HB 2) targeting the transgender community by banning people from using certain public restrooms that do not match the gender on their birth certificate. Despite the intense backlash to HB 2 and economic harm caused by the law over the past several weeks, legislators in at least in four other states are pushing for similar laws regulating transgender people's access to public restrooms. 

On April 21, Trump and Cruz feuded over the North Carolina law. When asked about HB 2 during an April 21 town hall on NBC’s Today Show, Trump argued against the measure, saying that there has been “so little trouble” allowing transgender people to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity that it should be left “the way it is.”

Cruz quickly attacked Trump’s comments, asking if the country had gone “stark raving nuts.” Cruz centered his support for North Carolina’s law on the myth that allowing transgender people access to facilities that match their gender identity will allow male predators to enter women’s bathrooms and commit sexual assault. During a radio interview with Glenn Beck, Cruz argued that “the idea that grown men would be allowed alone in a bathroom with little girls -- you don't need to be a behavioral psychologist to realize bad things can happen.”

Cruz’s appeal to women’s safety through the idea of a “bathroom predator” is the favorite tactic of anti-LGBT activists working to pass so-called “bathroom bills.” It’s also a well-debunked myth. Law enforcement experts, government officials, and women's safety advocates in cities and states across the country have thoroughly rejected the talking point, calling it “beyond specious.” The same day Cruz peddled the talking point, a coalition of over 250 groups working to end sexual assault and domestic violence condemned anti-transgender bathroom bills and the “bathroom predator” myth, writing:

Those who are pushing these proposals have claimed that these proposals are necessary for public safety and to prevent sexual violence against women and children. As rape crisis centers, shelters, and other service providers who work each and every day to meet the needs of all survivors and reduce sexual assault and domestic violence throughout society, we speak from experience and expertise when we state that these claims are false.

[…]

Assaulting another person in a restroom or changing room remains against the law in every single state. We operate and advocate for rape crisis centers and shelters all over the country, including in cities and states with non-discrimination protections for transgender people. Those protections have not weakened public safety or criminal laws, nor have they compromised their enforcement.

Given the overwhelming research and consensus debunking the myth, journalists covering the spat between Cruz and Trump should report the truth on the “bathroom predator” talking point. Giving any false balance to claims of transgender bathroom boogeymen distorts reality and helps spread a baseless, harmful lie.